Gods & Monsters
by The Real JosephineSilver
Summary: AU. Percy Jackson has spent his entire life hiding from the supernatural - from the Gods and Monsters that walk among mortals everyday, unbeknownst to those without the Sight. Unfortunately, Percy has the Sight, and a series of events outside of his control threaten to drag him into the centre of a world he has always attempted to avoid at all costs.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **_**Hi, guys.**_

_**Yep. I'm starting a new story. XD Yes, I have other multi-chaps going. So, sue me. I'll write what I want, when I want. Deal with it.**_

_**Anyway, this story is an idea I've had rolling around in my head for quite a while. It's an AU; such a severe AU I could change the names and sell it as an original idea.**_

_**The premise of this fic sprung to life when I wrote a oneshot – 'The Prelude' – which you can find on my profile. Reading said oneshot is not necessary to understanding this story, or vice versa; though set in the same 'verse, and very connected to one another, they are standalone fics.**_

_**This story picks up about seven months after The Prelude. Apologies for the vagueness, but the timeline is ambiguous. Some foul language, which goes against my personal beliefs. I mean, I'm cool with the occasional 'hell' or 'damn' or even 'crap', but a few F bombs are dropped. So, reader, be warned.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

**[::]**

**PART I**

_temptation_

-O-

PREFACE

-O-

Both Thalia and Percy tried valiantly not to look in the direction of their aunt, Cara.

Her belly was swollen like a balloon – she was pregnant, but this child was no ordinary child. This was no regular pregnancy.

An unnatural glow surrounded her, centering in on the area where her stomach jutted out the most. And not just a metaphorical one, like some books mentioned, an actual, legitimate, visible glow.

Well, visible to certain people: monsters, gods; Sighted mortals, such as themselves, and...demigods.

_Demigods._

They were the reason, in a way, that such a glow surrounded Cara. She was carrying a demigod, a child of Hermes.

When the rest of the family had found out – Percy's mother, Sally; his aunt Sara (Thalia's mother), his uncle Adam, and his grandparents, Geoff and Claudia – they had gone ballistic, shouting for what had seemed like days, finally throwing Cara out, fearing for the family as a whole.

They all knew that demigods 'looked after their own'. What this entailed, exactly, they weren't one hundred percent sure, but it seemed that demigod infants were usually either given up or taken after birth; which meant the Olympians had a way of keeping track of their half mortal offspring.

The entire family line was descended from a man from Ancient Greece, whom had earned the sea god Poseidon's favour. As a reward, Poseidon blessed the man with the Sight.

What he didn't know was that said Sight would be passed on through the generations.

For as long as Percy could remember, he had seen things no ordinary mortal could see. He walked past demigods battling monsters every day.

But he didn't react to what he saw. That was the first and greatest rule – law, really – of his family.

_Never let _them _know that you See._

When he was younger, he had been forced to recite the Rules twice daily, and the consequences of breaking them were made very clear.

_If they don't kill us, they'll blind us._

Which is why Percy had been named Perseus, and Thalia had been named Thalia. Their Sight was stronger than that of the other members of their family, so they had been named after mythological figures in the hopes of appeasing the Olympian Twelve, should they ever find out that the Jackson line had not died out.

He was teased near mercilessly for his name, but he was just glad he didn't get stuck with Theseus or Orion, considering which god his Sight came from.

There was another Sight blessed family that resided in the city – the Dare's – but, unlike Percy's family, who believed keeping it low key and flying below the radar was the way to survive, the Dare family lived like they were in an episode of _Gossip Girl_, and flaunted their wealth, as if daring the gods to take a hit at them.

They had a daughter that was near Percy's age – she even attended his school – but Sally, Percy's mother, had forbidden Percy from speaking with her.

_That girl will bring you nothing but bad luck_, she had promised. _Listen to me, Perseus – that girl is of Apollo's line. Their Sight is better than most. Eventually the gods will find them. Don't let her drag you down with them._

Thalia was trying to be discreet with her staring, but was failing; her eyes were as wide as buttons as they took in her aunt's girth.

Percy kicked her. As she turned on him furiously, he held his hands up in an offering of peace.

She scowled, but didn't lunge for his carotid, nor did her eyes slide back to Cara.

For this, Percy was grateful. _Yes,_ seeing their favourite aunt bear a monster was painful, but it had been this was for months, no need to stare so much.

Percy's phone buzzed in his pocket.

_Rachel_.

He pulled it out of his jeans, trying to act nonchalant, even though his heart was racing at the prospect of getting a few hours away from the aptly named 'madhouse,' which is what Thalia called it.

**If you bail on me, I'm selling you to the glue factory.**

He smiled as he texted back.

_**You can't sell humans, no matter how big your influence, Miss Dare.**_

The reply was almost instantaneous – _man_, that girl could _type_.

**Well, I'll just buy them off, then.**

_**Sort of defeats the purpose of selling me, doesn't it?**_

**Shut up, loser. Get your ass here now.**

_**I shall be there as soon as the Thwarter allows, Miss Dare.**_

Thalia coughed loudly, probably trying to be subtle, but Cara looked over at them, her brown eyes filled with curiosity.

When she saw the two of them sitting frozen, like deer's in headlights, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. The preternatural glow that surrounded her expanded, reacting to her anxiety. "What are you two up to?" she asked.

"It's Percy," Thalia said immediately. Cousins they were, _yes_; die for one another they would, _hells yes_, but take a metaphorical bullet from very pregnant aunt?

Oh. Hell. No.

"He's texting someone and smiling creepily," she continued. "Therefore, I surmise that he is talking to a _girl_." She glanced at Percy and gave him a once over. "Or, you know, a _guy_." She gave an overly exaggerated, suggestive, wink.

Cara looked at her nephew. "Perseus; phone, please," she said.

Percy gulped.

Cara arched a delicate brow at him. "Better me than your mother, I assure you."

Percy handed the phone over, and tensed, preparing himself for the inevitable lecture – and grounding.

One of the Rules was that you weren't allowed to date until you were twenty-one at least. Stupid, yes, but apparently before then, your Sight was contagious. A simple kiss could pass it along to another person, dooming their unfortunate soul, as it would be very unlikely that they would have the sense to keep their mouth shut about all the things that they had suddenly started seeing. The best case scenario then is a lifetime in a mental asylum. Worst case is that the Olympians kill you.

Thus, the 'chastity rule'. Once you came of age, the ability to pass on the Sight, except through reproduction, was gone.

Percy snorted as he realised, that, for the next five years, he was carrying one of the deadliest STD's not known to man.

What was happening between Rachel and him was nothing like that, but his mom wouldn't see it that way, especially since he had gone to such lengths to keep her hidden.

So, Percy braced himself and cursed Thalia in every language he knew...just the one fluently, but he was quite creative with his limited knowledge of others.

He could barely contain his shock as his aunt tossed his phone back at him. "Go and have fun with your friend Tyson," she said.

Percy had no friend named Tyson – Aunt Cara was, for whatever reason, making him up on the spot.

"Well?" she prodded. "Sounds like he's waiting for you."

Then, as Thalia gaped at Percy, probably seething at the unfairness of it all, Cara gave him a very slow _wink_.

This gesture put it together for Percy. Cara had figured out that Rachel was Rachel Dare, of the Apollo line, and already had the Sight.

Ergo, Percy couldn't pass it on to her. Ergo, he could have a little teenaged fun without worrying about the Rules and Restrictions the knowledge of _Them_ had put on his life.

Which, _eww_, because it was Rachel and he didn't think of her that way, but Percy wasn't about to throw away this 'get out of jail free card'. Gods knew he was going to have to cash it in later.

"Have fun," Cara called out after him as he slung on his black jacket and made his way to the heavy duty door, which had a newly installed security gate with about a million locks on it.

"But not _too_ much fun," Thalia cautioned. "I don't want to have to explain 'drunk-and-disorderly' to your mother."

"That's you, Thals," he said as he walked out of the door, hearing the locks slide back into place with several clicks as he closed it. "Not me."

As he walked down the path that ran alongside his town-house, he tried not to tense or let his eyes flicker to where he could sense the demigods standing.

The other mortals that passed by couldn't see the crowd of twenty or so that had gathered here. Normally, such a large group would attract all sorts of hellions, but in the past few days since the demigods had shown up, Percy hadn't even seen hide nor single hair of so much as a hellhound.

The gods, for whatever reason, were shielding them; is what Percy and Thalia had figured in whispers behind the adult's backs.

The adults of the family liked to pretend the Other world didn't exist. The fact that the two young ones of the family were almost..._fascinated_ with it made them terrified. So, whenever they mentioned the Other world or its inhabitants', _looks_ were sent their way, _looks_ that said _shut up_.

But as three demigods – two girls and a guy; both girls blondes, the guy a brunette – detached from the group that appeared to be just _loitering_ outside of his house and began to _follow_ him, he thought, that maybe, it had something to do with him – well, not him specifically, more like his aunt...more like the _thing_ she was carrying.

_Demigods look after their own._

He pulled out headphones from his pockets and inserted them into his ears, playing his music full blast and drowning out the worlds – both normal _other _Other – with the sounds of All Time Low and My Chemical Romance.

He shot off a quick text to Rachel – _**can't make it. Sorry, I'm being tailed.**_

**Lose them.**

Rachel's response came immediately.

_**I'm trying.**_

**Well, try harder. If They're following you, it's gotta be something big.**

_**Well, yes. My aunt's stomach.**_

Percy winced the moment he hit send with that one.

**As a woman, I take offense to that.**

_**Why? You're not the pregnant woman I just accidentally called fat.**_

'**Accidentally.' Riiiggghhhhht.**

_**Goodbye, Miss Dare.**_

He snapped his phone shut, probably a little harder than what was necessary. As he moved to place it back in his pocket, it vibrated – a reply from Rachel, most likely – but Percy ignored it.

_Lose them_. Yes, he had to lose his demigod tails, preferably _without_ making Them suspicious.

**-X-**

Annabeth's eyes watched the mortal teen with unerring, unwavering focus.

Tailing him with her was a son of Hermes, the god of travellers – Travis Stoll, the eldest of a duo. He was one of the Schola's best trackers. With them was Kate Gardener, who could manipulate the Mist with ease.

The job they were on now was an unusual one. _Yes_, demigods were usually assigned to watch over the mortal lover of a god once they fell pregnant, but never this many, and never were they told to _watch the family, too._

But, as confusing as Chiron's orders were, they _were_ orders, thus, they were to be followed.

She had been assigned to a boy that was only a few months younger than her – Perseus, how _ironic_. So far, her impression of him was _erratic_. Most mortals had a schedule, a timetable, that they followed. There was no rhyme; no reason, to the everyday life of Perseus Alexander Jackson. Even on school days, he did his best to fuck with the system and skip class – but not one or two classes, like, science or math. He seemingly decided what the hell he was going to do each day on a whim.

Like now, for example. From the overheard snippets of conversation as he exited the house, he had been going to see a friend. Yet, he appeared to be wandering aimlessly around the city.

Gods, Annabeth couldn't wait until the damn baby was born and they could snatch it. She missed her bed back home, in the Schola.

She'd never known another home. Children of the male gods were taken at birth from their mortal mothers. Children of goddesses were sent straight to the Schola. Her father's name was Frederic Chase.

That was all she knew about him.

"Annabeth." Katie nudged her, bringing her out of her reverie.

"Yes, Katie?" she asked.

The blonde haired daughter of Demeter inclined her head slightly to one side, her usually warm brown eyes cold and fixed on something in the distance. "Incoming," she spoke in a hollow voice.

The daughter of Athena saw what Katie was seeing.

A drakon. A small one, yes – roughly fourteen hands, the size of an average horse – but still, a _drakon._

Hermes had placed a protective barrier around the house of his mortal lover and unborn child's house. Obviously, they had passed through the borders.

Annabeth made a split second decision. "We take the drakon," she said. "Forget the mortal."

Katie and Travis nodded without hesitation.

A small part of wisdom's daughter – the part she called her 'Chiron conscience' – spoke up in dissatisfaction, saying that the easy way they all brushed off mortals was highly disappointing.

Annabeth squashed the voice down with all the mental strength she had.

**-X-**

Rachel arched an eyebrow at Percy's puffed, sweaty demeanour. "What'd you do, run all the way here?"

"Yes," Percy gasped out. "That's actually exactly what happened."

Rachel moved out of the doorway and ushered him inside. "I thought you had a tail?"

"I walked into a small piece of drakon infested territory," Percy grinned. "I have a feeling my stalkers got distracted."

Rachel nodded approvingly. "You're bad," she said appreciatively.

Percy shrugged. "Not my fault they followed me."

Rachel smiled at him vivaciously. "Oh, I don't know," she said sarcastically. "You're pretty damned irresistible."

Percy laughed. "Stop flirting," he scolded sarcastically. "I'm an innocent."

Rachel nodded sagely. "The party I'm dragging you to will change that, I assure you," she said.

**-X-**

Katie was screaming.

The drakon had spit acid at her. She had turned in just enough time not to catch it head on, but a fair amount splattered against the side of her face. Steam hissed out into the air as the acid ate its way through skin and hair.

Annabeth felt Katie was screaming mostly in horror at the fact that the heated, sticky, liquid goo that was making tracks down her body and onto the tarmac of the road was the result of her flesh and acid.

This was one of the times when the daughter of Athena was torn between thankfulness and hatred for the Mist. If mortals could see them, they could help Katie. However, they would more than likely get in the way. True Sight was a double-edged sword, and from what Annabeth had seen and knew, no mortal currently knew how to wield one.

"Kate!" Travis called out, panic clear in his tone.

"She's fine!" Annabeth barked out. "But she won't be in a minute if we don't kill this thing! Focus, Travis!"

The son of Hermes scowled but acquiesced. "I'll take point, run some distractions," he said.

Annabeth nodded and pulled an old, fairly crumpled, Yankees cap from her back left jeans pocket. "I'll stick it from behind," she said, holding up her dagger.

Travis nodded. With little ceremony, he sprinted to the front of the drakon, and began creating some illusions – another gift from the god of tricks.

Judging from the expression on the drakons face, Annabeth was glad she was spared from seeing whatever it was suffering through. Travis had a strange mind and an abrasive sense of humour at the best of times. This drakon had just attacked his girlfriend; made it personal. Ergo, this was _not_ the best of times.

Travis slowly began back down the quaint residential street, trying to avoid the mortal houses, as to keep the collateral damage to a minimum. The drakon turned to follow him – or whatever illusion Travis was feeding it.

As Annabeth snuck, invisibly, behind the beast, knife at the ready, she linked into the _nexu_, the psychic web all demigods were apart off.

_Just what the hell is this thing seeing?_ She asked.

_A very pretty lady drakon_.

Annabeth figured she didn't want him to go into any more detail, as, more than likely, the 'very pretty lady drakon' was doing some rather..._inappropriate_ things.

Her eyes caught sight of something lying on the side of the road. Giving Travis a mental nudge in its direction, Annabeth adjusted her position accordingly.

Once the drakon had been turned around, Annabeth made her move, lunging forward, her feet hitting hard against the large decorative rock she had been using as bracing. Her agile demigod muscles took her further than mortal ones could've, and she landed square on the drakons back.

With a grin that would have scared a serial killer, Annabeth poised her dagger above her head with both hands on the hilt; dramatically.

A hard thrust; she brought it down, twisting it through scales and skin, deeper and deeper into muscle and tissue and sinew.

Black, caustic, tar-like ichor sprayed up in a magnificent shower as gore as the Celestial bronze of Annabeth's blade sliced through an artery.

She tilted her head back to avoid the worst of it, but some of the tepid blood soaked into her clothes; she could feel its burn against the skin of her chest.

Annabeth continued to push her weight onto the dagger, not stopping until it was pushed in further than the hilt, not stopping until her hand was immersed in the wound, _not stopping_ until she hit bone.

Once this had been achieved, the drakon let out an unearthly wail and stumbled drunkenly before straightening up and shaking its head, as if to clear it.

Before it collapsed completely; crushing her, Annabeth held on tight to her knife and put all her weight on it. With her momentum and the drakons centre of gravity both faltering, the ground rushed at her with surprising speed and force.

Thankfully, the knife made its way down to the ground with her, slicing through drakon flesh and bone to clear a path. Years of training coming to life, Annabeth yanked her knife out of the drakons hide in a single fluid movement as he threw herself off of it with all of her strength.

She stuck the landing.

She turned back just in time to see a drakon, with a massive slit along its back spinal ridge, collapse in on itself, deflating like an old balloon before crumbling to dust.

Travis, who was walking towards her with an unconscious and badly burnt Katie in his arms, nodded his approval.

"Nice," he complimented. "I'd clap, but..." her trailed off, looking at Katie.

"Yeah," Annabeth panted as she straightened up, "no applause needed; I know I'm amazing."

**-X-**

"I have this sinking feeling I should've just stayed home," Percy muttered to himself as Rachel dragged him inside a massive white house – the house of one of her 'family' friends. Apparently the parents were out on business – yeah, in the _Bahamas_ – so the eldest son was throwing some huge party; how clichéd.

"What?" Rachel yelled at him over the music. "Didn't quite catch that."

"Nothing!" Percy shouted back, wincing at the overly loud, static sounds of Lady Gaga 'singing'.

"Look, Matt is over there!" she said. Percy had no idea who the hell Matt was, but he made a wild guess and figured that this was his party.

As Rachel made her way over to him, Percy in tow, Matt turned and smiled radiantly at the redhead. "Rachel!" he greeted, smiling in a way that made it clear he was attempting to show off all of his radioactively white teeth. "I didn't think you were coming! Your last text sounded so despondent!"

So, Matt was a pompous ass, Percy surmised.

Yet Rachel smiled at him. "My date showed up in the end," she gestured at Percy. "I was worrying about nothing."

Matt turned to look at Percy, and his million-watt smile faltered. His tan skin blanched pale white and his brown eyes almost seemed to glow golden for a moment. "Percy Jackson, I presume?" he said in a low voice, which Percy could somehow hear over the music. It was almost as if it spoke from _within_ his brain.

A chill travelled down Percy's spine.

He turned to look at Rachel. She still had that maniacally happy grin on her face, but her green eyes were serious; they burned with a feverish light. "Maybe we should talk somewhere else?" she addressed Matt.

"Of course," Matt nodded formally.

As he made his way purposefully across the room to a set of beige doors, Rachel made to follow him. Percy quickly looped his arm into hers and yanked her to a standstill. "What the hell is going on?" he asked in a hiss.

Rachel looked at him soberly. "I told you – tonight, you're losing your innocence."

**-X-**

Clarisse's greeting as they entered the Schola was perfunctory.

Of course, Clarisse being Clarisse, and a daughter of the war god to boot, she followed up her grunt of welcome with a, "she looks like death warmed over," directed at Katie.

Travis made a sound that might have been a growl, and Annabeth made a nervous chuckling noise before shoving him gently past Clarisse and into the main entrance.

"What?" he complained.

"Do _not_ antagonise someone who's rage blinds them to collateral damage when you hold an injured girl in your arms, dickhead," she told him, and delivered him another whack; this one upside the head.

"Don't hit me, woman!" he protested.

Now, it was Annabeth's turn to growl. She pulled out her still-ichor-stained dagger. "I'll do far worse than _hit you_ in a moment," she warned. "Now, hurry up and get Katie to the infirmary."

She slid her dagger back into its sheath, making a mental note to give it some serious TLC later.

"Where are you going?" Travis called after her, as she marched in the opposite direction of the stairs that led to the infirmary.

"To check in with Chiron," Annabeth called back.

_To _question_ Chiron, don't you mean? _Said a snide voice in the back of her mind. _You want to know why he's deemed this family so important._

_Of course I do!_ Annabeth protested...of herself/ _They're just mortals, completely insignificant _idiots.

The first voice was silent in her head, but another piped up.

Her 'Chiron' voice.

_Are you calling your father an idiot, child? He did, after all, attract the attention of Athena. And you, my dear; while technically only half mortal, have more in common with mortals than you would think._

**-X-**

Percy was angry. He was wary, he was worried, and he was confused.

But most of all?

He was scared.

He tried to swallow down said fear as he made his way through the beige doors Matt had exited out of, but it settled in his throat and his chest; a hard lump, a constricting weight.

As Rachel closed the doors behind them, Matt whirled to face Percy.

He hadn't been imagining things before – Matt's eyes really did glow with an inhuman gold light.

And those eyes were fixated on Percy.

"I am Apollo," Matt said. "We need to talk."

**[::]**

_So, what'd you guys think?_

_Bit different, kinda strange? That is absolutely okay. Those of you familiar with my other fics know how much of a weirdo I am._

_I think this is a pretty original idea, but either way, I'm writing it. Whether or not it is read, though I hope it is! _

_*wink wink* *nudge nudge* *hint hint*_

_See y'all next chapter?_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Been a while since we last saw one another. I apologise. Thanks go to those who reviewed/followed/favourited_**.

-o-

ONE

-o-

Percy's blood turned to ice in his veins as the god stared at him.

"Rachel?" He called tightly over his shoulder, just hearing a somewhat muffled _chinking_ noise as she turned the lock on the double doors.

"Sorry, Perce," she smiled at him apologetically as his features twisted into a snarl, eyes tracking the movement of the key as the redhead withdrew it from the lock and deposited it in her pocket. "Can't have you running out on us."

Though all his nerves screamed at him _not_ to, Percy turned his back to Matt - Apollo, _whatever_ - and faced Rachel. "Is this some sort of unfunny joke?"

Rachel's mouth twisted down at both corners. "Oh, I wish," she said bitterly. "You see, Apollo here isn't like the other gods. He doesn't lose sight - sorry, bad pun - of his blessed mortals. He knows that the power of the Sight remains within the blood."

Percy gritted his teeth. "Then how come you're not _dead_? How come _I'm_ not?"

The sound of a throat being cleared came from behind him. Matpollo made his way forwards. His prep-school-mofo disguise was fading; he was taller and leaner, more tan and, well...golden. "As Rachel said," he flashed teeth that could quite possibly invoke DEFCON 1 at Percy. "I'm not like the other gods."

"And thank the gods for that," Rachel winced as that came out. "Wow. I cannot stop the puns."

Her green eyes found Percy's, and she smiled. "Anyway," she continued. "About three months ago - "

"Just before you and I met," Percy interjected, and Rachel shifted guiltily at his words. Matpollo placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and Percy couldn't surpress a shudder of disgust at the contact.

Rachel flinched, hurt. She cleared her throat and looked down, eyelids fluttering in a valiant effort to hold back tears as she moved on. "He found me. Apollo. He came into my room one night and offered me a proposition."

Percy growled. An actual, physical growl. "You sick bastard," he hissed out. "She's sixteen years old." His body vibrated with the need to punch Matpollo in the face, at the same time that years of deeply ingrained instincts told him not to touch the god, not to let _it's_ taint come anywhere near him.

Matpollo blinked, looking honestly shocked. "Err, no," he said. "Not that kind of proposition." He then turned and looked Rachel Elizabeth Dare up and down, appraisingly. "Though, if you're up to it - "

Rachel held up one hand in a _stop_ gesture. "Please. Stop, because _ewww_." She shoved stray hairs out of her eyes with a huff. "May I continue now?"

Matpollo made a_ please, go on_ gesture, as Percy stood frozen across the room.

"He said he wouldn't tell Zeus about me, or my family, if I helped him."

"Helped him with what?"

Rachel let loose a breath. "The Oracle."

-X-

Chiron barely looked up from his copy of_ Animal Farm_ as the doors of his 'office' flew open with a bang.

In actual reality, his office was a cross between a library and an _apothēkē_, and one of the only rooms on the ground floor that were of any importance.

The Schola was an eight story building somewhere in rural New York - well, in the area of New York that was as rural as the city ever got.

In case attacks were ever brought to the academy's doors, the first floor was empty, except for various weapons and training rooms; the second floor was kitchens and bathrooms; third was the infirmary and various storerooms; fourth to seventh were a mix of bedrooms and bathrooms; and the eighth was small 'temples,' areas dedicated to worship of the gods.

The eighth floor had also once housed the Oracle, and would once again...just as soon as she was brought in.

All floors held weapons, just in case.

"Chiron," Annabeth snapped at the centaur, who was in his wheelchair disguise. "We need to talk."

"You _want_ to talk." Chiron peered at her over half-moon spectacles - when the hell had he gotten those. "I assure you, child, the conversation you have in mind is in no way nessercary."

Annabeth's lips twisted into something that may have been a pout. That is, if Annabeth Chase ever pouted. Which she didn't. "It is _deserved_, though," she insisted further. "I can understand if you don't want me to tell the others, but after everything I've done - for Olympus, for the Schola - surely I deserve a little truth, in the form of answers?" She made her eyes go wide and hopeful.

Chiron sighed and placed his book down on the nearest surface - a rickety _khēmeia_ table. No need for a bookmark; even if he couldn't remember the page number he had been on when he picked it up later, he had read that book enough times to know what was going on from whichever point he started reading from.

"You _deserve_ _nothing_ from the gods," he spoke as if it was a line that he had been fed and taught long ago, and he was tired of repeating it. "You have your mother's favour, and the favour of Lord Zeus, both of whom have allowed you to live within the safety of the Schola." Just as Annabeth, who seemed rather crestfallen, opened her mouth - maybe to protest, maybe to plead - he continued, "but I will answer one of your questions with nothing but the absolute truth if you promise to drop the subject of the mortal family you are guarding afterwards."

He inspected her over his spectacles. "Well?"

Annabeth nodded eagerly.

"You get one question," he reminded her as he once again picked up Animal Farm. "And I am in no hurry, just as you are not, for Katie will not be fully healed until the morrow. You'll have to spend the night here." He smiled at her gently. "Take the time to consider what your question is."

-X-

Percy spread his arms. "Well, I'll bite. What about the Oracle?" He sniped, just wanting to get whatever was happening right now over and done with.

Matpollo scratched the ever-lightening hair on his head. "Well...err...well, I lost her." A sheepish shrug coupled with a 'charming' smile that was clearly meant to disarm.

"You lost her," Percy repeated, deadpan. "You, the god who quite literally sees all and knows all, lost his Oracle; and has now come to a mortal for...?" He let the sentence hang, ending on a lilting note that clearly showed that it was a question.

"Help. Yes, as impossible as it seems, the awesome Apollo needs help sometimes. Even from mortals." He winced as he heard how that las part sounded. "Not that mortals aren't awesome. If they weren't, we wouldn't bless them with sight, and we certainly wouldn't take them into bed with us - " he laughed, as if making a joke, before seeing the queasy looks the two mortals were giving him.

"Ah, right," he said, seemingly to himself. "You guys are practically kids. Also," he added to Percy. "I am not all seeing, nor am I all knowing. Common misconception, I know."

"Apollo?" Rachel asked gently, trying not to show her annoyance at the god's tanget. "How 'bout I take it from here?"

Apollo acquiesced to Rachel's request an conceded the floor to her.

Percy looked towards Rachel, grateful that he could once again ignore the deity that was acting far too familiar - far too _human_ - or his liking. "You want to explain any off this to me?" He spat out, very well aware of how bitchy he was sounding.

He didn't really care, as he felt aforementioned bitchy-ness was _very_ well deserved.

"When Apollo came to my room that night, he told me about the Oracle of Delphi. How a clear-sighted, mortal, maiden is always chosen to be its host. He," she blushed and ducked her head shyly. "He asked me if I wanted to be the next Oracle."

Percy's brain sort of froze. "He asked you to become one of _them_?" His disgust was impossible to hide.

Rachel gave him a look. "He did._ And I said yes_."

-X-

Annabeth's brain was different to the average brain. It wasn't that Athena's children were born smarter, or with the intrinsic ability to memorize and understand most everything they heard - that would be _stupid_, ergo, go against _everything_ that the goddess stood for - it was more like they had been born with the _capacity_ to excel.

A thousand possible questions flew through Annabeth's mind, all at once, like leaves caught in a strong gale; not a single one of them, nor a single train of thought, remained still long enough for her to focus on it.

A logical part of her insisted,_ ask about the mortals. Learn why they are important_.

The sentimental part of her that had existed and survived despite all the crap she had been put through in her seventeen, short years of life so far, told her_: ask about your father_.

And the curious part of her, the part that made her Athena's daughter and let her discover things she shouldn't know piped up -

_- ask about what happened to Camp Half-Blood._

_Find out why the gods shut it down sixteen years ago._

-X-

Percy could sense an explosion coming.

A big one. Whether or not it was he that exploded, he couldn't tell.

"_Why_?" He couldn't tell if he was more hurt or disgusted. "Is being human_ not good enough_ for you?"

Rachel blinked unshed tears from her eyes. "Being locked up in my parents house isn't good enough for me," she spat out. "I just - I thought - I thought that if I could _see_ the future, I could _change_ my own."

Percy's tense muscles relaxed slightly. He could understand the desire to escape.

He still didn't forgive her though. Not completely.

He ran one hand through his hair. "So, what happened?"

Matpollo spoke up. "Delphi is being difficult," he said. "You see, she takes a host for life. When the old one passes on, she accepts the one that I chose to be the replacement. But she was bizarrely...fond, of this last Oracle. When she passed away just over a fortnight ago, Delphi should have taken Rachel. But she didn't. This means one of two things - either she is being stubborn, but I doubt that is the case, for if it was, she would have remained within the corpse until long after it mummified. She's done it before. The other option is that something foul is afoot, and somehow, an unknown person managed to capture Delphi before she could move into her next host."

Percy blinked, before the annoyingly logical part of him - _yes_, there _was_ logic within him, though it was small - spoke up. "Have they attempted to host Delphi themselves?"

Matpollo shook his head. "Unfortunately, they're not stupid enough to try."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "_Unfortunately_?"

"Delphi would tear them apart. She's very particular about whom she lets host her - virgin mortal women only. And beautiful ones, at that."

"And they have to have clear Sight," Rachel reiterated.

"Even Zeus wouldn't be able to withstand the power of my Oracle," the sun god proclaimed with pride. "I mean, she wouldn't be able to _kill_ him, or anything; but she would leave his mind in mangled tatters."

Percy nodded. "Lovely. Remind me again - why am I here? What is it, exactly, that you are asking of me?"

Both the eyes of Rachel and Apollo glinted with an eerie light.

"We need to find Delphi," Matpollo said, finally letting the last of the teenage disguise fade. "But I can't send a demigod or god - if they were to discover I had lost hold of the Oracle, they would...actually, I'm not sure what they would do. However, I imagine it wouldn't be pretty, nor pleasant. Not to mention the fact that Artemis would _never_ let me live it down."

"Again, what you are asking of me is?"

Rachel spoke this time, eyes shining with excitement. "If you convinced Thalia to come with us, that would make three - a complete quest group. Please, Percy...don't think as if you're doing it for _them_."

Her voice deepened with earnestly. "Think like you're doing it for _me_."

Percy swallowed. "I'm guessing what I'm stupidly about to get myself into is dangerous."

"Very!" Apollo agreed cheerfully. "No matter, I've snuck out some protection for you."

"From where, exactly?"

"Olympus, of course," he stated as Percy would '_my wardrobe_.'

"Here, give me your hand," Apollo said, holding out something black, thin, and about thirteen centimeters long.

"This is a pen," Percy stated as he looked down at the object resting on his palm. "A _pen_."

"But no ordinary pen, I assure you," Apollo guaranteed. "Which reminds me - do you have any idea how to use a _xithos_?"

"A _what_ now?"

"A sword."

"No," Percy said, baffled, as he began to uncap the pen. "I live in the twenty-first century, why would I know how to handle a - "

A long, bronze blade clattered to the floor as he dropped it.

"A sword," he finished faintly.

"Ahh, well," Apollo said, clapping him on the back as he stared in shock. "You'll figure it out."

Percy couldn't even bring himself to care that a god had just touched him.

-X-

Annabeth burst into Chiron's office.

"I take it you've discovered what it is you wish to ask me, then?" He didn't look up from the pages if his book - a newer one, this time; _Code Name Verity_.

Annabeth answered his question by asking hers. "August eighteenth, sixteen years ago," she stalked up to the desk in fron if Chiron and placed her palms upon it, leaning her weight against it. "What happened that night?"

"What happened that made the gods shut down Camp Half-Blood?"

-o-

END PART I

_temptation_


End file.
